The Lesson
by Walter
Summary: Ryan’s first day of school in Chino.


Summary: Ryan's first day of school in Chino.

Author's note: Maud and I just spent two hours arguing over what to name the main character of this story. She suggested Rose. And Bertha. And Melissa. Boy was she ever wrong. But she's a pretty damn good beta anyway.

The Lesson

--------------

Lena Yu hated children. Two years into her teaching career, and that was becoming more apparent every day. She didn't know what she was doing. She had no control over her classroom, and no respect from her students. Most days, she thought she might actually be going more harm than good. Today Francis had been sent home after starting a fight during the silent reading period, Monica had burst into tears when called upon to answer a math question, and half the class had failed a spelling quiz—Manny had even, yet again, misspelled his own name.

And all in the first hour of class. Lena glanced at the clock at the back of the room. Six hours to go.

"Miss Yu! Miss Yu!"

At least the class had finally stopped with the "Miss Yu, we won't miss you" jokes.

"Yes, Theresa?"

"Someone's at the door."

Lena, who'd been trying to enjoy a rare moment of quiet in the classroom as the kids copied paragraphs out of a science textbook—a useless exercise if there ever was one, but at least it got them to shut up—glanced at the door. She could see the short profile of a kid standing outside, his features muddled through the frosted glass window.

"Want me to get him?" Theresa asked. She was already standing up at her desk.

"Sit down, Theresa," Lena said, not bothering to wipe the irritation out of her voice. Theresa scowled but sat down. Lena knew what the kids said about her behind her back. Bitch. Asshole. Shitface Sometimes even worse names. Most of the time even worse names.

The entire class had stopped reading by now, and they watched Lena cross the room and open the door. A tiny kid in bad need of a haircut was on the other side. He didn't look at Lena as he handed her a note.

He was a new student. Her new student. Ryan Atwood. Lena sighed.

"Come on in, Ryan," she said, and waved the boy inside.

Head down, bangs flopping over his eyes, Ryan stepped by her and stopped just on the other side of the door. Lena put a hand on his shoulder and guided him to the center of the room.

"Guys, this is Ryan. He's joining our class. Say hi."

A clumsy chorus of "hi, Ryan" rang around the room, and then the kids started snickering, and giggling, and pointing, because that was what fourth-graders did. They found everything so damned funny.

Lena wished she'd had a little warning about the new kid, but like many California schools these days, El Rancho Elementary ran as though in a constant state of mayhem. Things like memos were pretty much a luxury. Once this year Lena had actually shown up for school on a holiday after no one had told her the campus would be closed. They didn't even have a principal; that job had been open since Ted Grant had resigned four months ago. Which meant the teachers were left to pretty much fend for themselves.

Lena wasn't even sure where Ryan could sit. Her class was overcrowded as it was, and with Ryan she now had 37 students. There was a long counter at the back of the room where three kids who didn't have desks of their own were already lined up, perched on stools. They'd just have to make space for one more.

"Manny, please go to Mr. Handler's office and tell him we need another chair," Lena said, and Manny, a tall, lanky boy who rarely spoke, disappeared out the door. At least she could be fairly certain that Manny would return to class. That wasn't the case with some of the other kids.

Lena led Ryan to the back of the classroom, ignoring, for now, the loud chatter that had erupted from this unexpected break in the schedule. She cleared a space on the counter.

"Manny will be right back with your chair," she said.

Ryan nodded slightly and stood very still at her side. He was so small, and she wondered if he was even old enough to be in the fourth grade. Lots of parents stuck their children into kindergarten too early, mostly because daycare was so expensive and they didn't know what else to do with their kids. That trick usually caught up to them pretty fast, and helped explain why most of Lena's kids were behind in just about every subject.

Ryan's clothes were too big for him. His jeans were torn and dirty at the hems, his T-shirt fell to mid-thigh, and the sleeves of his jacket swallowed his hands. And why was he wearing a jacket, anyway? They were in the middle of a spring heat wave, making the blacktop outside appear wet and shiny under the morning sun. Lena had all the windows open in her classroom, and still the heat was stifling. She'd been hoping all morning that it would make the kids sleepy in the afternoon.

Ryan shifted his backpack on his shoulders and pushed up the sleeves of his jacket.

"You can put your stuff under the counter," Lena said. "When Manny comes back, you guys can share a textbook. We were copying the first page of the chapter about photosynthesis."

Ryan nodded again. He was a quiet kid. She liked the quiet ones.

"All right, guys, settle down," Lena said, raising her voice to be heard over the hum of excited chatter as she made her way back to the front of the room. "Ramon, I told you, no standing on the furniture. Theresa, go back to your seat."

It took her nearly five minutes to get the kids seated and quiet again, and by that time Manny had returned with a stool for Ryan. The class was far too energized now to sit through another quiet activity like copying words from a book, but they needed to finish the chapter anyway so she had them take turns reading aloud. It was another excruciating assignment. For half the kids, English wasn't their first language. All but six of her students read well below their grade level.

After guiding Manny through his paragraph—which meant Lena actually read most of it for him—she intended to pass over Ryan. Even her worst students had to read out loud in class, but she at least wanted to sit down once with Ryan, one-on-one, to determine his reading abilities before she made him speak in front of everyone. But Ryan didn't give her a chance to let him off the hook. He took up immediately after Manny left off.

His voice was soft, but assured. He spoke carefully, enunciating every word, finishing the entire paragraph without stumbling once, even nailing the complicated words like "glucose" and "chlorophyll". Quiet and smart. This one was growing on her already, and that couldn't be a good sign. It was the smart ones, the ones with the most potential, that she felt guiltiest about because there was so little she could do for them.

Lena didn't want to throw too much attention on Ryan in front of the other kids—positive feedback from the teacher was grounds for social ostracism, especially for a new kid—so she refrained from complimenting him. She would have smiled at him, at least, but he wasn't looking up from the textbook.

"Thank you, Ryan. Linda? You're next."

The rest of the morning passed in typical pandemonium, with Lena and the kids in a constant battle for control—and the kids winning more often than not. Ten minutes before lunch Lena gave in and told them to gather in groups of three to start working on their math homework. She knew none of them would follow her instructions, but she didn't really care as long as they didn't talk too loudly. She called Ryan to the front of the room.

"I just wanted to learn a little more about you," she said when he was standing beside her desk. "Where was your last school?"

"Fresno."

"Why'd you leave Fresno?"

Ryan squinted at her, catching her eye for a moment, then just shrugged and looked back at his feet. Lena didn't push it. She probably didn't want to know.

"Did you like your school in Fresno?"

He shrugged again. It was an exaggerated gesture, his shoulders raised almost to his ears.

"Do you have a favorite subject? Reading? Math? Science?"

"Math, I guess," he said. "I like reading too."

Lena hoped she would see his school file before the end of the week, so she would know where he placed in her class. But she wouldn't get her hopes up—files often never arrived at her school. Not that it mattered much. The smart kids suffered while she spent almost all of her time helping the kids who were two or three years behind. Meanwhile, the kids who were behind suffered because Lena was 25 years old, just two years out of college, and she had no idea what she was doing.

"Do you know your multiplication tables?" she asked. Ryan nodded. "Long division?" He nodded again. "Fractions?" He shook his head at that one. Well, assuming he wasn't lying, he was still ahead of about 90 percent of her class.

The bell rang then and her class burst into shrieks and the scrape of chairs sliding back from desks. Kids bottle-necked at the door as they all raced to the cafeteria. Ryan stayed rooted by Lena's desk.

"Go on," she said. "It's time for lunch."

Lena followed slowly behind the packs of kids. She was on lunch duty this week, responsible for keeping some degree of order in the cafeteria. It was an impossible task. By the time the kids were let loose for recess, Lena's shoes would be sticky with spilled soda, and she'd probably have some sort of condiment smeared on the seat of her pants. Lena blew at a strand of hair that had escaped from her ponytail and trudged on.

Lunch duty was a matter of chaos control. The kids really could get away with almost anything. Lena's job was simply to make sure no one was seriously maimed. So she paced the perimeter of the room, only approaching the tables when she saw David threaten Luis with a plastic knife, and later when Manny tried to climb on top of the table. About five minutes into lunch, when the kids seemed fairly well settled, Lena noticed Ryan, sitting alone at one end of the table where the rest of her class was eating. His hands were in his lap and he was watching the other kids. Lena walked over to him.

"What have you got there?" she asked. A paper bag, unopened, sat in front of Ryan. He looked up at her, his blond hair falling over his eyes. She couldn't even tell what color they were.

Ryan didn't say anything, but he slowly opened his bag and took out a sandwich wrapped in plastic. Carefully, as though the sandwich were fragile or somehow important, he unfolded the plastic.

"What kind is it?" Lena asked.

"Peanut butter."

"Did you make that yourself?"

He nodded.

"Do you have anything else?"

He reached into the bag again and pulled out a soda.

"That it?"

Ryan nodded. No fruit, no chips, no cookie. Not that Lena was surprised. Three-quarters of the kids at her school qualified for the district's free meal program, and the ones who didn't qualify were hardly well off.

"Looks like a great lunch," Lena said, keeping the sarcasm out of her voice.

She started to walk away when Ryan asked, "Do you want some?"

Lena paused and stared carefully at him for a moment. Ryan was holding out half of his sandwich to her. That was a new one. She smiled at him and shook her head.

"No, thanks. I've got a lunch of my own," she said. "But that was very thoughtful of you."

"Hey, Ryan, do you like pretzels?"

Theresa was yelling from halfway down the table. She shook a plastic bag filled with pretzels at Ryan, then stood up and joined him, her friends giggling and pointing. Lena smiled despite herself. The crushes were already beginning.

"You don't want them?" Ryan asked.

Theresa scrunched up her face in disgust. "No way. Here. Take 'em."

"Thanks," Ryan said.

"Don't worry, Miss Yu, I'll take care of him," Theresa said, and she threw an arm over Ryan's shoulders. His darted a nervous glance in her direction, but he didn't shake her off.

"That's what I'm afraid of, Theresa," Lena said.

Actually, she was pleased to see Theresa taking Ryan on as her newest charge. Theresa was a good kid. One of the troublemakers, definitely, and probably the kid who frustrated Lena more than any of the others. She was smart, that was clear in the way she seemed to understand everything that was going on around her. When she actually tried and paid attention, she did well in class. But she rarely tried or paid attention, and she rarely did well in class.

Still, Theresa had an energy and a kindness to her that made her popular among her classmates. She was already gorgeous, with long dark hair and a brilliant smile that she wasn't afraid to use. Ryan would do well under her protection.

Lena had 15 minutes to eat her own lunch after her cafeteria duty was over and the kids were released to recess. With the echoes of screaming children muffled through the windows of her classroom, Lena ate at her desk in relative peace. Her boyfriend had made lunch for her again. She smiled when she saw the Hostess cupcakes at the bottom of her bag. He was always surprising her with treats.

Most of the other teachers lunched in the staff lounge, where they swore loudly and made fun of their students over cups of black coffee. The older teachers, the ones who were especially embittered by too many years in the classroom, smoked cigarettes in the parking lot, not even bothering to hide the dirty habit from their students. Lena tried to avoid them all. She was bitter enough without the added encouragement of the more experienced teachers.

Her so-called mentor, a 50-ish woman who had never so much as taken Lena out to lunch to talk about teaching, had given her very few pieces of advice, but the one that stuck was the one Lena thought about now. Don't get attached. There was only so much a teacher could do for these kids. Her job was to try and teach them, not save them.

Lena pictured Ryan as she considered those words. She wondered where he came from, what his family was like, how he'd grow up. She wondered that about all of her students, although she tried not to. Because it was true, she couldn't save any of them. She knew Theresa's oldest brother was already selling drugs at the high school, but what could Lena do about that? She knew Manny's mother was a drunk. She knew David's father was in jail. She knew Monica lived in a two-bedroom apartment with her mother and six brothers and sisters. Only once in two years had Lena ever intervened in a student's life, and that was when Ricky Vega came to school with two black eyes, courtesy of his mom's boyfriend, he'd said. Lena had called the cops, and she'd never seen Ricky again.

For all she knew, Ryan's life wasn't that bad. But she could already see the signs. The neglect. He was too quiet and too careful, even for a new kid. She would just have to try not to notice, or care.

The bell rang and Lena dumped her apple and the cupcakes back into her lunch bag. She'd save them for after school.

The kids were wired after recess so Lena tried to settle them with 20 minutes of silent reading. They lasted 12 minutes before they grew restless and Lena once again gave up.

"Okay, let's work on our timelines," she said, and the kids squealed and scraped their chairs to form small working groups again.

Lena passed out the assignments the kids had been working on all week. When she was done, she grabbed a new piece of paper and headed back to Ryan.

"Do you know what a timeline is?" she asked. Ryan shook his head. "It's a way to write down all of the important times of your life."

Stealing a black marker from Manny, Lena drew a straight line across the paper in front of Ryan, then crossed the line with several hash marks.

"Just think of some important events—maybe an especially good birthday, or if you have little brothers or sisters, when they were born—and mark them on this timeline. The earlier events come first, and the later events come last. Today, for example, would be an important day for you, don't you think?"

She quickly wrote today's date and "first day at El Rancho" under the last hash mark. Ryan frowned at the paper and picked up a pen of his own, but he didn't start writing.

"Just start with the day you were born, and then try to think about other dates, okay?"

Ryan nodded slightly, still concentrating on the paper. Theresa squealed with laughter from the other side of the room, and Lena stood up. Ryan was on his own.

Lena collected the timelines 30 minutes later, and, thankfully, the rest of the afternoon passed quickly. She'd been right about the heat; the kids were sleepy and decidedly lacking in energy. Still, when the last bell of the day rang, they all shrieked and jumped out of their chairs, grabbing backpacks and lunch boxes as they scrambled for the door. Lena yelled reminders about their homework, but she knew it was useless. When the room was finally empty, she sighed and slumped behind her desk.

She still had another hour or two of work, but this was easily Lena's favorite time of day. She loved the quiet, and the way her ears rang slightly as they adjusted to the lack of noise.

Lena finished the next day's lesson plan first, although she once again wondered why she even bothered. She rarely stuck to the plan. The kids never let her. Then she began grading homework and reviewing the morning's god-awful spelling tests. She finished with the timelines, noting what kind of progress the kids were making. She'd learned this particular assignment from a book. It was supposed to help the kids with both their math and writing skills. But considering most of them kept getting their dates mixed up, and spelling every other word wrong, this assignment, too, seemed to be failing.

She was surprised when she got to Ryan's timeline. She'd figured him for one to actually follow directions, but his timeline was nearly empty. He'd written down exactly one date: his birthday.

"Shit," Lena said.

Ryan had turned 10 years old today.

+++++

Lena was thoroughly discouraged by the time she left her classroom two hours after the kids were gone. She locked the door and swung her satchel over her shoulder, then made her way to the parking lot in front of the school. It was still too hot, but at this time of day, with the sun drifting low in the sky, she actually liked the heat. It reminded her of the long summer days of her own childhood, when a hot evening held so much potential.

She was grabbing her keys out of her purse when Lena noticed a boy sitting alone in front of the school. Ryan. He was sitting on a low stone wall, his back to her.

Lena recognized immediately the choice that lay before her. She knew the smart thing to do. She knew what the older teachers would tell her to do. Go to her car. Or if she really wanted to help, go to the office and tell the secretary to call his mom, or his dad, or his grandmother or foster parent or older sister—whoever was responsible for him.

She knew what the teachers would say about this kid. He was cute and sweet and smart, and he was just bursting with potential, and Lena had to stay away. Detached. Because he'd break her heart.

Lena could be smart about it, or she could be an amateur idiot and do the right thing.

She took a deep breath and prepared to get her heart broken.

"Hi, Ryan."

Ryan jumped slightly, his back still to her, and quickly raised a hand to swipe at his cheeks. Lena gave him a moment, then sat next to him on the wall.

"Your mom's a little late, huh?"

Ryan shrugged, then nodded. Okay, so he had a mom. That was something. Lena took another deep breath. Her mentor would never approve of this.

"Can I give you a ride home?"

Ryan pursed his lips and stared at his feet His legs were too short to reach the ground, and he swung them back and forth, banging his feet against the wall.

"No, thanks," he said, a whisper.

"You sure? I don't mind."

Ryan wrapped his arms around his chest and seemed to consider her offer. He looked utterly miserable, his cheeks flushed and still wet where he hadn't gotten to all the tears.

"I don't know where I live," he said finally.

Of course. He'd only just moved here. The kid couldn't even walk home on his own if he wanted to. Lena wondered where his mom was, and how she could leave him at school with no way home. On his birthday. She didn't dwell on that, though. It wouldn't do any good.

"Wait here a minute, okay?"

Ryan didn't answer, which wasn't a surprise. Lena went to the office and asked the secretary for Ryan's address. Mrs. Lender lifted her eyebrows slightly in surprise, but she didn't ask any questions. Lena quickly copied Ryan's address onto a scrap of paper from her purse, then went back outside.

"Okay, we're all set," she said, and held out a hand to Ryan. He didn't take it. "Come on, I've got your address. You don't live all that far. Let me take you home."

Ryan frowned thoughtfully, then stood up and followed behind Lena to her car. She opened the front door for him and he climbed inside, backpack still on. She smiled as she closed the door, hoping she wasn't making a huge mistake, but knowing that she almost definitely was.

"Put on your seatbelt," she said as she started the car. Ryan obeyed, and he looked so tiny in her front seat. She realized she'd never had a child in her car, only her boyfriend, or friends or family—other adults. Lena glanced over her shoulder and pulled out of the parking lot.

Ryan only lived a mile or so from the school, so it was a short drive. He slouched in the front seat, both hands balled into fists on his thighs. She'd never seen a child sit like that. He looked harmless, but very angry. It didn't quite fit with the rest of him that seemed so calm and sweet-natured.

"You did really well in class today, Ryan," Lena said as she drove slowly through the neighborhoods around the school. "How'd you like your first day?"

"Okay, I guess."

Lena laughed.

"Yeah, me too," she said. "You did great with the reading. Do you like to read?"

"I guess so."

"Do you have any favorite books?"

Ryan was quiet and Lena risked a quick glance at him. He was looking out his window, chewing on his bottom lip.

"I like The Golden Compass."

Lena grinned and glanced at him again. That was pretty advanced reading. Not even the sixth-grade teachers at her school were assigning the Philip Pullman series to their students.

"Oh yeah? Me too. You know, he's coming out with the next one this summer."

If Ryan was excited by that, he didn't show it. He kept staring out the window.

"My brother says books are dumb."

Lena wanted to tell Ryan that his brother was dumb, but she kept her mouth shut on that one.

"That's not true," she said. "Books make you smart. I bet you read a lot, huh?"

Ryan didn't have time to respond before he pointed out the front window.

"That's my house."

Lena pulled over and parked at the curb. It was a decent neighborhood. Down the street, kids were kicking a soccer ball across the pavement. The houses were small, but mostly well cared for, the lawns kept trim, the front doors open to invite a breeze in the afternoon heat. 

Most of the homes looked welcoming, comfortable. Ryan's did not. Lena leaned down to get a better look through the passenger side window. A chain-link fence surrounded Ryan's home. A soggy sofa was on the porch, and the paint was peeling all across the front of the building. The yard was overgrown with weeds and long-dead bushes.

"Thank you," Ryan said quietly, and Lena dropped her gaze to him.

He unsnapped his seatbelt and climbed out of the car, shifting his backpack on his shoulders as he approached the house. Lena watched him climb up the steps to the front door. She was already involved. She might as well wait to make sure he got inside.

Ryan knocked on the door, then tried to open it. Nothing happened. He knocked again. Lena got out of the car.

"No one's home?" she called. Ryan turned around slowly and caught her eye for just a moment before looking down again. He shrugged.

Now Lena was really at a loss. She had no idea what to do for this kid. Should she call someone? Take him back to school? Take him home with her? She laughed to herself at that idea. She couldn't even remember to water her plants. What was she going to do, raise the kid herself?

"My mom will be home soon," Ryan said. "You don't have to wait."

Lena knew she didn't have to wait. She knew she probably shouldn't wait.

"No, I'll stick around for a little while."

Ryan shrugged, and she was getting tired of that gesture. It seemed Ryan was too. His shrugs were starting to lack the energy she'd noticed earlier in the day. Ryan took off his backpack and dropped it on the porch, then sat down on the steps. Lena grabbed her satchel from the car and joined him.

"Hey, I almost forgot," she said, and opened her satchel. She rooted through the mess of papers and pens, and finally found her lunch bag at the bottom. "Usually we have cookies or cake or something when there's a birthday," she said, feeling Ryan stiffen at her side, "but since no one told me it was your birthday today, you'll have to settle for this."

She pulled out the Hostess cupcakes, presenting the package to Ryan on the palm of her hand. He didn't touch it.

"Come on, I'm starving," Lena said, ripping through the plastic wrapping. There were two chocolate cupcakes inside, and she removed one and handed it to Ryan before taking the other one for herself. "I'm sorry I don't have any candles or anything."

"It's okay," Ryan said, staring at the cupcake. He glanced shyly at her, his eyes still hidden beneath all that hair.

"Happy birthday."

"Thanks."

They ate in silence. Lena immediately wished she had some water, but there wasn't anything to do about that now. She was starting to wonder just how long she'd have to wait there. The shadows were lengthening as the sun dipped behind the houses on the other side of the street. It was probably after 6 by now. Her boyfriend would start to worry in another hour if she didn't call.

Ryan had pulled his legs up to his chest and was resting his chin on his knees. She'd never seen a 10-year-old boy eat a cupcake so carefully. He had not a spot of chocolate on his face to show for it. He reached up to scratch his neck, and pushed his bangs off his face. He was too small for his age.

A car roared around the corner and Lena and Ryan looked up at the same time. It screeched to a stop at an awkward angle on the opposite side of the street, and a boy—maybe 14 or 15 years old—slammed the passenger side door and stormed toward them.

"Trey, get the hell back here." The woman driving the car slammed her own door and planted her hands on her hips. Ryan stood and backed up until he was leaning against the front of the house. Lena stood with him.

"Fuck you," Trey said, not even stopping to look at the woman as he made his way toward the house.

The woman, dressed in a waitress' uniform, crossed the street, yelling after the boy.

"Your first fucking day at school and you're already suspended," she said. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"You're what's wrong with me," Trey said.

"Don't you run away from me," the woman said.

Trey marched right past Ryan and Lena, not even glancing their way, and tried to open the front door. When it didn't budge he swore and kicked it, then punched it, splintering the wood a little but otherwise accomplishing nothing. He swung around and ran down the front steps, pushing past the woman.

"Trey. Trey! Shit."

The woman stood on the curb a moment, watching the boy disappear around the corner at the end of the street. Finally she let out a sigh that Lena could hear from the porch, and she seemed to collect herself and approach the house. Her face brightened and she smiled when she saw Ryan. The sudden gesture made her look years younger, and Lena wondered how old she'd been when Ryan was born a decade ago.

"Ry, I didn't see you," she said.

Lena had hoped for warmer birthday wishes from Ryan's mom. But Ryan moved toward her anyway and allowed himself to be hugged. He wrapped his thin arms around her waist briefly, then pulled away, dropping his head.

"You're late," he said.

"I know, honey, but Trey had a little trouble at school, and they wouldn't let me off work on time." She stopped and dropped down, brushing Ryan's hair out of his face. "I'm sorry. How was your first day?"

Ryan shrugged, just one shoulder this time.

"Good, I guess."

"That's great," his mom said hugging him again. "I'm sure you're gonna love it here. Okay? Things are gonna be great for us here."

The woman looked up then and noticed Lena for the first time. Her face immediately fell, her smile wilting into an angry frown. Lena wasn't sure how to read this new reaction. The woman frightened her.

"Hi, I'm Lena. Lena Yu. I'm Ryan's teacher at El Rancho."

The woman glanced at Ryan, her lips drawn and her face tight. Ryan backed a half-step away from her.

"Ryan's already in trouble too?"

"No, no, not at all. He's a great kid," Lena said. "I just, when no one picked him up after school, I offered to drive him home."

"What, you think I forgot my own kid? What kind of a mother do you think I am?"

The woman walked toward her now, and Lena raised her hands in front of her, palms out, surrendering.

"No, of course not. Your house was on my way home, so I just figured I'd give Ryan a lift," Lena lied. That seemed to placate Ryan's mom, but she still wasn't smiling.

"Well, thanks then," she said.

The three of them stood for a moment in awkward silence, until Lena reached down to grab her satchel, where it was still sitting on the steps.

"Okay, well, I should be going," she said. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay, Ryan?"

He glanced at his mom before nodding at Lena.

"It was nice to meet you, Mrs…."

"Atwood," she filled in after a second. Lena never knew. Most of her kids didn't share their parents' last names.

"Mrs. Atwood," Lena repeated.

She walked quickly past Ryan and his mom to her car. She was at the curb, fishing for her keys in her purse, when she felt a tap on her back. She turned around to see Ryan behind her. His mom was letting herself into the house.

"Miss Yu?" he said.

"Yes?"

"I learned a lot today."

"You did," Lena said, not believing that for a second. "Like what?"

"I learned about photosynthesis. And I learned what a timeline is. And I learned how to say 'shut up' in Spanish."

Lena laughed at that one. Ryan smiled at her, and Lena felt her heart seize in her chest.

"Good, I'm glad," she said. "I think you're going to like it in Chino."

Ryan looked back at his house, then studied Lena again.

"Me too," he said, and his smile faltered only a little. He turned and headed back to the house, and Lena watched him until he'd closed the door behind him.

Lena knew there was nothing she could do for Ryan. At best, he would learn fractions this year, improve his vocabulary a little. Maybe she could get him into the gifted students' program, but that was unlikely. It took parental involvement, and testing, and motivation from her school's staff that would be hard to come by.

And anyway, it wasn't like she could change what really mattered—his home, his family, his future.

Yeah, this kid was definitely going to break her heart.

-End


End file.
